Sticky Messages

In 1883 commuters on the Berlin suburban railway encountered the first stickers urging them “Don’t buy from Jews!” And even today, stickers – depicting a crossed-out mosque, for example – continue to deface public areas. The Anti-Semitism Research Centre has organised an exhibition titled “Sticky Messages” which examined the function, historic development and global dissemination of a medium which, in addition to entertainment or marketing, has also served to cement anti-Semitic and racial prejudice. The exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum portrayed how stickers have been used in varying political contexts since the 19^th century to stoke resentment, and illustrated the visual manifestation of stereotypes and political propaganda.
In order to do justice to this broad subject, the project organisers have enlisted the support of a number of international partners, collectors and archives, including the Jewish Museums of Berlin and Frankfurt, a sticker museum in the United States, the archive of the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel and the Wiener Library in London. Based on this largely unexplored medium, the exhibition presented current positions and results of anti-Semitism and racism research – not isolated, but rather in the context of incited reactions of the offended minorities. In cooperation with the Deutsches Historisches Museum, the project included an extensive accompanying programme with an international symposium, curator-guided tours and a film series.

Artistic directors: Isabel Enzenbach, Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Anti-Semitism Research Centre at the TU Berlin)